Listen to Walking the Iron Curtain, a three-part series presented by Mary-Ann Ochota
THE SUN-SOAKED SHORES OF LAKE PRESPA are buzzing. Not with holidaymakers topping up their tan, but with the symphonic drone of hundreds of thousands of insects. It’s a sensory indicator of a thriving habitat with exceptional biodiversity. The lizards scuttle, the birdsong rises and falls in rich, vivid waves, the fish glimmer in the depths of the lake.
Lake Prespa and Ohrid are on the Balkan Peninsula, where the national borders of Albania, North Macedonia and Greece meet – literally in the middle of the lakes. The lakes and their surrounding mountains and sub-tropical forests are so unique that they’ve been granted UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status. Collectively, they are home to hundreds of endemic species, from the Ohrid trout to rare types of juniper, to the Dalmatian pelican. If you know where to go, you might spot European lynx, grey wolves and brown bears. Tread very softly and the Balkan mole might even show its face.
N OTHER PLACES, THIS WOULD BE A tourist hotspot; stretches of the lake shore would host floating restaurants, upmarket hotels and paddleboard hire kiosks. But beyond Ohrid city, the villages are small and agriculture is low-intensity. Large tracts of mountainside haven’t ever been cultivated or
